Parents Tips to Fix "Messy" Form

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Mom2Chickadee

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My DD (age 8) is a level 4 and recently had her first competition, ever, and didn't come up with the scores she was hoping for. Minus a brain fart on bars (back hip circle on low bar...she doesn't even know why she did it), her scores were reflective of messy form not from falls or missed skills. Her coach has been saying for months that she more than has the skills necessary, but for some unknown reason she seems to forget the need for the little things (straight legs, pretty hands and pointed toes) so her routines look messy. Her coach is trying various approaches to help her focus and remember to be "tight" but I thought I'd check here to see if there are any other tricks to help her figure this out. Right now, she has a notebook during practice where she gets marks every time she's "messy" so she can see how often it's happening, from time to time her coach has also shown her videos of different skills so she can see her issues, and her coach has talked about using tape on her knees so she feels the pull when she's not straight. I'd hate to see her have to repeat level 4 next year because of just being messy.
 
OK so I'm not in any way advocating going nuts about this...

Again, I 100% believe that this is usually best left to the coaches in the gym...

BUT has she watched any video of herself? My DD has competed for a number of years now, and this is the first season I've recorded most events at most meets. My DD has been surprised to notice a few little things like flexed feet, etc. I do NOT point any errors out, it's things she notices on her own, but I think it's maybe helped her with a few little things on a couple of events.

Also, way back during my DD's first season, coaches asked the girls to practice their "competition hands" in a mirror at home a bit, so they knew what their hands/arms looked like. Again, I wouldn't obsess over that, but it may have helped. Also it was kinda hilarious.
 
I agree with I.c.o, last year when dd was doing her level 4 bar routine we videotape it and she later watched. She couldn't believe how many times her legs separated and how many times her knees were bent. When they are able to see themselves, it makes it real for them.

Also, dd coach always tells the parents that the girls get more confident as the season continues.
 
Thanks for the replies. Yes, she did watch the video and afterwards said she understood what her coach had been telling her, and then we left it at that. We are not pushing anything at home with her, we basically told her to keep listening to her coach and work on the little things. I will try and ask her to look at herself in the mirror to practice her hands b/c her coach has said that her hands sometimes look like claws, maybe if she sees this she can understand what her coach is talking about.
 
We had a National team coach come in and work with the girls one week and she did explained it to the girls as "happy fingers" (up and in line with the wrist) and "sad fingers" pointing down resulting in claw hand. The girls thought it was funny but they all went home talking about happy fingers and there were many more happy fingers at her latest competition :) Might be a fun trick to share with your daughter.
 
Time, time will do it. As she goes to meets she will see the difference between a routine that is polished and not.

With time she will see those little details can mean the difference between 2 or 7 place. How a girl who falls once can score better than someone who didn't fall at all but is "sloppy". Time and experience.

And now that she is starting to get the hang of scores, she will understand what it means when the coach says not keeping her head up or finishing a move will cost her.
 
She's only 8. Sometimes it's better to repeat a level at that age in order to perfect form. The last thing you want is messy form to continue.

That being said, she got scores that reflect her form. Before she didn't see the result (lower score) but now she does. That alone may spur her on. She could be a different gymnast by the end of comp season

Sometimes practicing in front of a mirror could help. Even at home she could do her poses in front of the mirror to see the flexed foot or bent knee and the see it fixed and make a mental note of how it feels. But, she's only 8. She has time and it's not the end of the world if she does repeat.

My dd did two years of three. It was planned that way since year 1 was her first year doing gymnastics. It helped her do well in 4 and now in 6. She also killed it her first real year of competing.
 
Sometimes I think age really plays into it. Not everyone develops the body awareness at the same rate. My DD was one of those. She's now 11 and it's like something has finally clicked the last 18 months. She has always asked me to record her meets and she would watch and could see the bent legs, flexed feet etc. She just couldn't always get it right and sometimes nerves made it worse. Her mind would put more emphasis on staying on the beam, what's next in her routine, etc. She was focused so much more on the routine and not the things that didn't come naturally to her. It has improved a ton with age. She knows bent knees are her weakness now and she does a much better job of remembering at meets. Last meet, she was a bit of a mental case on beam. Didn't make a single bhs during warm up. She did it during her competition but guess what? That darn knee was not as straight as it normally is. In her head though, she was happy because she landed it, didn't have a to take a fall and still placed high. I don't really have much advice just time and outside of the coaches, I always tell my DD before a competition to have fun, I love her and don't forget her knees. She just smiles because she knows.
 
Age. At 8 she just might not have the body awareness yet. Her brain might only be able to control so many things at 1 time. So she's asking it to do the skills, which are hard, she just physically cannot polish them up quite yet. My daughter was exactly the same way. She's now 11 and training level 7 [emoji38].
 
Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. She is only 8 so I'm sure this will come with time. Her coach has been great at continuing to come up with strategies to help her remember her form in her routines. She has a second competition in a few weeks so we'll see if things improve any. Ultimately this is in her hands and she'll either get it or she won't...no real big deal either way. If she repeats next year, I know she'll be disappointed but it will just be another
 
not sure why my last post cut off the last sentence and now I can't edit...but I just wanted to say that if she does repeat next year it will just be another life lesson taught through gymnastics. I know these "life lessons" build character, but man does she have to learn them so young?
 

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